David Apostolico - Tournament Poker and the Art of War

Poker Book Report: Lessons From The Pro Poker Tour by David Apostolico

I am sure David Apostolico could write a wide array of other genres, because among poker writers his form is right up there with John Vorhaus. He does give way to Vorhaus in terms of style, and well, let’s say - zestyness, but his tame approach has merit as well.

Better known for his philosophical endeavors, the writer who penned comparisons in poker strategy to that of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, Apostolico takes on here a much more precise, real life reconstruction of tournament hands he either witnessed or participated while playing in the Professional Poker Tour.

The PPT is an offshoot of the WPT productions but is a smaller field of invited professionals only. So while you may not have heard of David Apostolico too much, many of the hands discussed here include the top rated poker names that you will easily be able to put faces to as the hand is played out and analyzed.

As this is David Apostolico’s first poker book as an actual analyst I was surprised to read fairly strong, to excellent recreations of the hand action that quelled my internet-driven desire to see all that I was reading on video. In fact, because of the familiar names, it was quite easy to get caught up in the confrontations and then get a chance to read and think about Apostolico’s analysis while judging the players that participated in the hand.

A couple of situations involved Doyle Brunson making some truly amazing laydowns for what seemed to be inconsequential pots. Apostolico pointed these hands out indicating Brunson’s true talent and that as a seasoned pro that knew how to conserve chips for better opportunities. There are other equally captivating hands that make the book worthwhile in themselves.

The book coagulates in chapters by categorizing some popular hands and how to play them, specific opportunities and how he applies them in tournaments, and broad strategic concepts that may help your over all thought process when entering tournaments.

All this amidst most of the best players in the world, and a chance to go over everyone’s thought process for that particular hand. If I could say anything negative about the book, it would be that little bit of pizzaz! that makes some books stick to your hip until you’ve finished reading them may be lacking. With all these great characters involved in each hand, a little background and side notes might have helped in that regard.

That is being picky though, because at 15 bucks this book packs a lot of value if you want to get better at tournaments. I could stack 3 or 4 other particular tournament books together and they wouldn’t carry the weight of this valuable little paper-back.

Marty Smith is webmaster and a regular online poker player. He has a FREE Sit and GO Video Strategy Series on his website at http://www.PokerSitandGoReport.com

If every single poker book that was ever written were assembled into a bible-like book, David Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War would fall under Proverbs. Apostolico takes a very different approach to expound the many subtle strategies that any successful poker player should implement by using Sun-Tzu's Art of War as the basis to approach a No-limit Texas Hold-em tournament game. The book is a very quick read and I have prospered greatly from the wisdom that oozes. The book is well written, but contains one fundamental flaw that is easy to get around. Despite this flaw, I will highly recommend Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War to any student of the game.

The book begins by outlining 10 principles that are gleaned from the Art of War and applied to tournament strategy. This 30-page section on the 10 principles is easily the strongest part of the book and I have read it and re-read it many times. It is worth purchasing this book for this section alone. I briefly summarize the 10 principles below:

1: Understand all of the potential consequences of your actions
2: Play each hand for maximum value and minimum risk
3: Eliminate your opponent the first chance you get
4: Accumulate chips at every opportunity
5: Mix up your play
6: Know thy enemy and know thyself
7: Use your strength to exploit your enemy's weakness
8: Do not wait for pocket Aces to make a move
9: Adjust your play with changing situations
10: Poker is an art of deception

In the remaining chapters of the book, Apostolico does his best to incorporate the teachings of Sun-Tzu by integrating excerpts from the Art of War into the text of the book. It sounds like a good idea, however there are so many excerpts integrated into the text that the book suffers from giving the reader too much information. It is very difficult to remain focused on the topic because there is an interruption after every paragraph. The vast majority of poker players are not academics and this style of writing may not appeal to a broad audience. I have found that this issue is easily overcome by skipping over the Sun-Tzu excerpts and focusing on Apostolico's writings.

I have read many books on poker. I love Sklansky and am not a big fan of Brunson the author. Although I skipped all of the Sun-Tzu excerpts in the latter part of David Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War, I find that this book remains strong nonetheless, and holds a top spot in my list of recommended books on poker strategy.

R. Alvarez, Philadelphia